Double Mountain Apostrophe Catastrophe

Joe spotted this sign that features two apostrophe catastrophes and a missing comma at a mall in Lansing, Michigan.

I appreciate the sentiment, but am appalled by the punctuation (and capitalization of articles).

Thanks, Joe!

Patriotic Pizza Catastrophe

It's a holiday here in Boston, so I thought I'd post a local apostrophe catastrophe. Joel from Melrose, Mass., submitted this catastrophe a few weeks ago, but it seemed appropriate for today. He says the pizza at Dado's was good despite the apostrophe/comma catastrophe on their menu.


Happy Patriots' Day, everyone! That's a plural possessive because there were many patriots.I bet that even more pizza gets sold as people carb-load before the marathon and refuel after.

Thanks, Joel!

Every Day I'm Punctuatin'

This image has been making the rounds on Facebook, and it warms my heart.


Sadly, we don't always appreciate the importance of commas.

Thanks to Ethan, Andrew, and Carrie for sending me this cute and insightful meme.

Weinergate Sext Catastrophe

The Daily Show has been having a field day reporting on all the sordid details about Anthony Weiner's scandalous Tweets and texts. A lot of people are appalled by the Weiners's lying and cheating, but to me, the most disturbing part of this whole sex scandal is the congressman's poor punctuation.


For that alone, Weiner ought to resign from office.

Todd Palin Angry E-mail Catastrophe

Sarah Palin's husband, Todd, apparently sent an angry e-mail to Joe Miller after Miller refused to endorse Sarah for president.

The grammar and punctuation in Todd's e-mail are appalling! The worst part is when he writes, "Put yourself in her shoe's Joe for one day."

Shoe is Joe? What does that mean?

You We Are

My friend Kurt sent me this sign that he found in a restaurant in Knoxville.


We've got missing commas, periods instead of commas, and an apostrophe catastrophe in were. This sign is a mess. And the tone is so angry that I might not necessarily trust their food...

Thanks, Kurt!

Hit the Road, Jack!

The missing comma in this t-shirt is really not that big of a deal. I mean, who is going to think that this shirt is saying that you should hit a road jack?


But I'm all about the Celtics right now, so I'm posting this comma calamity even though it's a bit of a stretch. I spotted it in North Station when I was on my way to the game on Thursday.

BEAT LA! BEAT LA! Three down, one to go, boys!

At Least the Food Was Good

This sign that I found in the bathroom at Gargoyles restaurant in Davis Square features just about every type of punctuation problem known to man.


We've got comma splices, unnecessary quotation marks, missing periods, random capitalization, and, of course, apostrophe catastrophes. My favorite part is where they put two apostrophes in Boston's'. What the hell?

But the food was awesome, and I got to have duck for the second time in one week. Life is good.

Worst Punctuation, Comma, Ever

From Crawley, West Sussex:


Barry is clearly upside-down dyslexic or something. Chris writes, "I might take my wife here for our 20th anniversary."

That would be awesome. But don't listen to me -- I once bought someone a mop for Valentine's Day.

Thanks, Chris!

No Country for Old Apostrophes

Andy spotted this outrageous catastrophe at a truck stop near the Arizona/California border:


Apparently there's parking for one truck, one R.V., one boat, and something belonging to a buse. And they forgot all the commas.

The landscape looks gorgeous, but that sign is just hideous.

Thanks, Andy!

Adult Entertainment Catastrophe

The Sexy World Megastore in Darwin, Australia, needs to take some of its catastrophic apostrophes and turn them into commas. Or maybe they actually sell "leather cream," as in the stuff you put on a new baseball glove to break it in?


Thanks to the submitter who calls himself Heywood Jabloeme for sending this one in. "Heywood" writes, "What is the world coming to when we can't even rely on pornographers for grammatical correctness?"

You Want to Eat Your Grandmother?

Feed Me Bubbe is making the e-mail rounds almost as swiftly as Susan Boyle did. Bubbe, which means "grandmother" in Yiddish, has become a bit of an Internet sensation with her online cooking shows. She's like Julia Child if Julia were two feet shorter and Jewish.

It's an adorable idea, but the title of the Web site makes me cringe.



Would it kill you to put a comma in the title of the Web site? Oy.

Make Mine a Double

Merry found a double apostrophe catastrophe in Allston on voting day.


Well, I suppose apostrophe catastrophe isn't quite accurate since the sign is missing a comma and an exclamation point, but you know what I mean. Merry and I agree that the sign should say, "Speak Up, Allston! Vote!"

Thanks, Merry!

Comma Calamity in the Subway

David Harris of the Cambridge Chronicle is responsible for bringing this comma calamity in Harvard Square to our attention. His blog tells us that the lack of punctuation in this subway ad is driving him crazy.


Well, David, if you've gone crazy, take the T one stop over to Central Square. You'll fit right in.

At least they got the you'res right!

Thanks, David!

Punctuation for Radio

You know the expression "a face for radio"? Well, the first line of this e-mail would have sounded fine, but it sure looks ugly.


The most obvious error is the it's, but that sentence is also missing a comma. I also think that the semicolon toward the end should be a colon or an em-dash.

Thanks to my mom for sending this one in. Looking foward to seeing Bono and the boys with you on the 21st!

The Chosen Catastrophe

If you're tweeting about religion, it's probably wise to spell the names of Biblical figures correctly. Shame on you, @JewishTweets. To you I say the opposite of mazel tov.


Besides the apostrophe catastrophe, this tweet also contains a comma calamity because Moses had only one brother. So, it should read, Moses' brother, Aaron.

Thanks to Adina for sending this one in. As the Black Eyed Peas might say, l'chaim!

Cambridge Police: Stupid or Not? Let's Look at the Police Report

The biggest news story in the world today is the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Earlier this week, Cambridge police were called to Professor Gates' home when a passerby reported that two men were trying to break in. Turns out that one of the men was Gates, who lived there, and his front door was jammed. Everyone is weighing in on this issue, even our president. Was the arresting officer racist? President Obama said that the Cambridge police acted "stupidly."

For the purposes of this blog, the important question is, did the Cambridge police write stupidly in the police report about the incident?


There are a couple of missing commas and places where the punctuation should be inside the quotation marks, but overall, this report is pretty well written. The one glaring error is a your/you're confusion in one of Gates' quotes. I'm certain that the scholar meant to say, "You don't know who you're messing with!"

Still, this police report was better than I had been expecting, so, the jury's still out. I'm sure we'll hear plenty more about this story in the next few days. It even made the homepage of the London Times online, along with Amy Winehouse's latest antics.

Red Card for Punctuation Violation

This Aston Villa fan was apparently too upset by the prospect of Gareth Barry leaving the team that he forgot how to use proper punctuation. Or maybe he's upside-down dyslexic.


Thanks to Neil for sending this one in!

Unkosher Punctuation

My friend Sarah took a trip to Israel recently and found this poorly punctuated sign in a falafel shop in Jerusalem:


She admits that the falafel was pretty good, but she wouldn't say that it bought her, whatever that means.

Besides the obvious apostrophe catastrophe, this sign lacks a period at the end of the sentence, and I think that comma should be a semicolon.

Thanks, Sarah!

Two Ways to Get It Wrong

Art found an apostrophe catastrophe in the print copy of Canada's Globe and Mail. See the headline in the screenshot below.


The comma is unnecessary, as well. Art noticed that the story was from the Associated Press, so he did some research to find out where the error originated. It turns out that the AP's original headline also used an incorrect apostrophe.


While it could be argued that Americans possess their spending and savings, I think the headline should be "Americans saving more, spending less" with an implied verb "are."

"I wonder what Canadians' are doing," Art quips.

Also, check out the name of the woman who is quoted in the article. Was Grace's maiden name so bad that she decided to go all Dr. Seuss after she got married?

Thanks, Art!